Written In Stone

I can't recommend this book highly enough for nerds of the Northeastern United States (such as myself). This book gives a clear, concise survey of geology and illustrates these hard-to-imagine forces with callouts to geologic features of the Northeastern United States. It's much easier to understand forces that build up over millions if years if you can good out and look at the results. By the same token, if you live between New Jersey and Maine, you can find out really neat things about your area that are literally under your nose. It's a good book if you're curious about geology.

First off, this book was probably intended for Tourists. The lay. The casual reader somewhat interested in the targeted area's mountain history. As such, its simply a big hit! One reader said "boring in parts"? It's a small short book. I couldn't put it down. I suppose that reviewer might find Dr. Charles Merguerian more facinating. Look him up if you're aspiring for your PhD in the subject. This book was a quick fantastic read, easy for those who know little about the subject and highly informative for it's brevity. I vote this book most likely to make you pick up another book on Geological History! What higher praise is there?

I'm not a geologist. Yet the grandeur of the earth's history fascinates me. This book is very accessible to the lay person with little or no technical background in geology. The only thing I would suggest is have a computer nearby while you're reading it. There are nice drawings, but no photographs in this book. I would have loved some colored photos, but in this day and age it's just as easy to do a little on-line research on the things mentioned in the book. I would highly recommend this book for the arm-chair geologists out there!

This book presents in straight forward language a very complex geological story in a way accessible to the layman. If you have walked on these rocks and looked beneath your feet wondering how they, and you, came to be here, this book contributes a lot to your understanding. I'll walk on them with much more satisfaction now, and I know I'll go back to this book over and over again to gain a greater appreciation of the natural world.

Interested in geology? This is by far the best account I have found of the complicated geology of America's east coast. And there's the added bonus of being written by a father-daughter team of fine writers. Chet Raymo is primarily known as an astronomer -- he brings a deep-time philosophical perspective to the story of our past.

the best book to understand the events of 500 may in the Northeast. Its a page turner...it opened my eyes.I used it as my text for an on line geology course.Raymo writes as if he is having a conversation w me in my living room.

"Written in stone" from Chet Raymo and his daughter Maureen gives a candid and accessible perspective on the geological events that gave rise to the landscape and species of the Northeast so familiar to us who live there. This perspective reveals the fragility of the world we take very often for granted and suggests that further evolution is inevitable, ongoing, and life changing.

An easy read for a nonprofessional person

I just received this book a couple of days ago,, so I haven't read it yet, but it does look interesting and I am very glad to have it sitting in my bookshelf, just waiting to be read. Thank you, G Matheson